The Influence Of Weight Class, Experience, And Season On Wrestling Injuries

Abstract

Injury an athlete's nightmare, is the worst thing that may happen at unexpected time. It could bring on not only time lost, missing a championship or early retirement but also cause permanent physical damage, such as disabled body function or even death. Among the college athletes, wrestlers had the second highest injury rate (football ranked first). PURPOSE To determine the roles of experience, weight class and season in wrestling injuries. METHODS The injury reports of 31 wrestlers from a NCAA Division I College Wrestling Program were studied. The injury reports were taken by the team physician and filed by the head coach during the practices and matches from September through February. RESULTS Lighter weights (between 125 – 157 lbs) had more injuries (58%) than heavier weight classes (40%) (between 165 lbs -heavyweight,183–225 lbs). The 157-lbs weight class sustained the highest number of injuries (20%). The second injury percentage was found in 125 lbs class (16%), slightly higher than the 149 lbs (13%). Freshmen suffered significantly more injuries (33%) than sophomores (24%), seniors (24%) and juniors (9%). The wresting team suffered the greatest number of injuries in November (26%), during six-month period. January and October ranked second and third with 23% and 20% respectively. CONCLUSION Wrestler's weight seems to play an important role in injury because lighter weight classes have much greater injury risk than heavier wrestlers. This may be explained that lighter weight wrestlers are more active and intense during wrestling. They spend much more time during the attack and defense. Therefore their injuries tend to be more severe and force them to drop out of wrestling sooner than injuries in heavier categories. The freshmen wrestlers sustained more injuries than upperclassmen. It is possible that freshmen felt greater obligation to work hard in order to get on the team. It is also likely that freshmen found themselves in a new environment and they might not have been ready yet physically and technically for college level wrestling. The highest injury rate was in November. Injuries decreased in December and increased again in January. It seems obvious that November is the time to work and try hard to get on the team but it should be also noted that the first tournaments of the year occur in this month. The wrestlers find themselves in a match after or 6 months away from competition. Therefore, injuries become unavoidable if wrestlers do not have adequate preparation or physical performance. Recalling the fact that wrestling competitions have a greater risk than practice, it may be concluded that injuries are high in November and January due to the quantity of tournaments.